Shenzi's first hunt
by TheGreat628
Summary: Its one of the hardest and most grueling tests the clan has to offer.On your own for 3 days in the Pridelands to catch an animal big enough for the whole clan and at the same time,trying to survive and avoid lions.Can six year old Shenzi do it? ON HIATUS
1. It begins

**Ever since my first fic (see "Happy Birthday Shenzi") I have wanted to write another involving everyone's favorite hyenas, though on a larger scale than a simple one-shot. After a bit of thinking I finally managed to come up with a story that seemed good enough to me and could be put up here. So everyone, enjoy this story of Shenzi's first hunt on her own. **

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><p>Shenzi woke up and yawned. The morning sun had yet to rise and the sky was a shade of dark blue. After a few seconds of stretching and some more yawns the pup suddenly perked up when she remembered what today was... This was the day when she would go out on her first hunt, but this wasn't just any hunt. This was the hunt that was going to determine if she was ready to lead the hunting parties on their nightly trips to try and find food for the entire hyena clan. And at only 6 years old, succeeding would make her the youngest hyena to hold so high a rank in the clan's history. Not many pups her age were given such a rare opportunity, even less succeeded at bringing anything home and some never even came home at all! It was for this reason that pups were normally forbidden to go, but having the clan's matriarch as your mother had its benefits.<p>

It had taken a lot of begging and pleading in order to convince Sariel to allow her daughter to go on such a dangerous quest and now that the day had finally come, Shenzi did not intend to let anything ruin her chances to impress her mother as well as the entire clan.

Running over to the sleeping matriarch, she began to nuzzle against the side of her mother's body. Her mother groaned and shuffled a bit on the floor before turning her body over so that her back was facing towards Shenzi.

"Mom" she whispered making her way around her mother's body "Wake up."

She put her fore paws on her mother's head and rocked her back and forth. Finally, one of her yellow eyes slowly blinked open halfway. Shenzi continued to shake her mother's head until both her eyes were fully opened. Sariel slowly got to her feet and yawned. Before she could even shake herself of the groggy feeling that came with every morning, her daughter was already halfway out of the skull.

"Where do you think your going?" she called after her, in the middle of a long yawn.

"Where do you think?" came Shenzi's excited reply "I'm going for my first hunt!"

"Not this early in the morning." Sariel said.

"Why not? You said we would go today" disappointment was growing in the pup's voice.

"Yes I did, but not so early..." she yawned again.

"Its not early. Look! Even the sun is out!" Shenzi motioned to the sky, which was just barely starting to show any signs of light.

"Shenzi, be patient. If you go out this early the only thing you would be able to catch are the termites walking on the ground. Wait until the sun has fully risen and then we'll head out, I promise." she said in a soft voice.

"But mom-" The pup began.

"No arguments. Come and lie down with me for a bit, you'll need your rest if you want to catch something worthwhile."

"Can't I just-" but before Shenzi could finish her sentence, she found herself being lifted off the ground by the scruff of her neck and was carried back inside the skull.

_A few hours later..._

As Sariel led her daughter to the area where she would go out to bring down her first big animal, she found herself in a constant barrage of questions.

"Mom, how old were you when you went on your first hunt? Mom, did you catch anything? What did you catch? How big was it? Oh that's nothing, wait till you see what _I'm _gonna bring home!"

Each time Sariel answered one question, another was already being asked. Finally, they came to the border between The Elephant Graveyard and the Pridelands.

The process went that a pup or adolescent who felt up to the challenge would sneak into the Pridelands for three days. During this time they had to kill at least one large animal, such as an antelope or the rare wildebeest,and bring it back home for the clan to eat. During this time, they had to find food, water and shelter for themselves. And all the while avoiding the lions, who were constantly patrolling the Pridelands for intruders of any kind.

This was no easy task and Sariel certainly did not expect her 6 year old pup to succeed in bringing back anything. In fact, the only reason she was allowing her to go was because she had been nearly nagged to death on a nightly basis about it. She smiled at the thought of doing the exact same thing to her own mother so long ago, and how hotheaded _she_ had been as a pup. Of course, she didn't bring anything back, except a newfound sense of humility and she hoped the same would go for Shenzi. She almost felt a twinge of guilt for sending her daughter off to such a dangerous situation, but she had been training Shenzi almost her entire life on how to live and lead on her own, in the case that something should happen to her and the clan found itself in need of a new matriarch. It was because of this that she knew that she would at least be able to come home in one piece. She turned to Shenzi

"Now you're sure you're ready for this? Its still not too late to-"

"I know what I'm doing, mom. I'm six years old, you don't have to baby me anymore. And anyway I'll be back in three days." she said, cutting her mother off. There was nothing but confidence in Shenzi's voice, if not _over_confidence, a quality which was both her strength and weakness, depending on the situation at hand. The pup nuzzled her mother's leg for a final time and headed towards the border.

"Good luck" she heard Sariel call out to her.

Shenzi did not respond as she continued to walk towards the border. She didn't need luck, she thought to herself. She was good enough on her own, and by bringing something back she was going to prove it to everyone. As she crossed the strip of yellow grass leading into the Pridelands, she took one last look at the spot where her mother had been standing, only to find that she was gone.

She took in a deep breath and set off into the tall grass on her own...

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><p><strong>There's the first chapter. What did you think? Like it? Hate it? Okay with it? Tell me what you thought about it. If there was something you didn't like let me know and I'll try to fix it. Remember I'm still pretty new to this whole thing so don't be afraid to tell me if I did something wrong, I'm always looking for a way to improve my writing. Next chapter will probably deal with Shenzi's first day out and about on her own and then the others most likely follow the same pattern. Until next time everyone! Pieces!<strong>


	2. Out and about

**Welcome to chapter two everybody! If you're reading this then that means you liked chapter one! Thanks for wanting to continue to read this! I spent all week putting this one together, spending some free time (and school time) typing up the first draft on my phone and fixing it up here on the site.**

**I think that I might start getting into the habit of updating this story every week.**

** So without further ado I present to you chapter two! (Hey that rhymed!)**

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><p>Shenzi continued to walk through the grass. Because she was still just a pup the grass easily rose above her head, and it was because of this that she constantly had to stop and stand on the tips of her toes to look above the tall blades sticking up out of the ground. From what she could see, she was in the middle of a large plain with some trees jutting out here and there in the vast ocean of grass waving back and forth in the light wind. Her smoky gray fur was a deep contrast with her bright green surroundings, meaning to hide would be nearly impossible.<p>

Shenzi again rose up on her tiptoes, looking around for anything that might be watching or following her. All she saw was grass, grass and more grass. She had never seen it before in her entire life, much less walk in it. Its long blades lightly tickled her entire body as she made her way through, and even when she stopped walking they continued to brush up against her, and she hated being tickled especially by such a strange looking object. Not only was grass an unfamiliar thing to Shenzi, it was something she was quickly learning to hate in general.

_What use does it have?_ she thought to herself as she trudged along. _All it does is make it hard to see and never stops tickling you._

She was relieved when she finally saw a clearing up ahead. Eager to get away from the grass and its constant tickling, she headed straight for it. After reaching the patch of clear ground she sat down on the dirt, something she was far more familiar the opportunity to at last be able to examine her surroundings without having to strain her neck and crush her toes, she looked around. What she saw blew her mind.

There, up ahead by about 8 miles was the single biggest thing she had ever seen in her entire life. Pride Rock, she had heard her mother and other hyenas call it. Home to the lions and the king himself, it was a symbol of not only the lions' power, but their incredible majestic nature too. It made her feel so...small. Even the elephant skull she lived in was tiny by comparison, and it was one of the largest in the entire Graveyard!

Shaking her head to bring her thoughts back to the present she looked at everything else around her, looking for possible shelter. About a mile to her left there was a watering hole surrounded by all kinds of animals, none of which would take kindly to a hyena's presence. To her right was another plain leading to who knows where, and directly ahead was Pride Rock. Her eyeballs strained as she tried to see beyond the gargantuan thing, but she thought she could barely make out what looked like a tiny oasis about 2 miles past it.

_There_, she thought to herself.

From what she could see, it looked like a pool of water with two little trees growing right next to it and a little rise right behind it. It was perfect. Not only would she have her own source of water but she might be able to find some shelter nearby. It wasn't a matter of finding a place to stay anymore, it was trying to figure out how to get there which was now the issue at hand. If she wanted to reach the tiny body of water before the sun set, it meant having to travel a path that went directly in front of Pride Rock. Was it really worth it? Risking her life in order to get to a place that might or might not have shelter nearby? Just then she heard the loud and proud roar of a lion off in the distance. If she didn't want to end up being caught out in the open and all alone, then yes. She hurried off in the direction of the oasis.

_A few hours later..._

Shenzi blew a bang out of her eye as she continued on her long trek across the seemingly endless plain. About five minutes later she came to a stop and sat on the ground, panting. The water was still about five miles ahead and Pride Rock was only three. She was tired and ready to fall asleep. In fact she would have, right then and there on the ground had the sun not already been directly over her head. Her mother had once told her that when the sun was at its highest it meant that the day was half over. Knowing how important it was that she reach the oasis before night fell she slowly brought herself back up to her feet, groaning as she did this.

Each step she took hurt and her mouth felt drier than the elephant skull she lived in back home. But right now, the only thing on her mind was getting to that water, taking the longest drink of her life and settling in for the night, being ready to hunt in the morning. Anything else was secondary. At one point she even collapsed in a heap to the ground from pure exhaustion, only to quickly hop back up as soon as she saw a group of vultures begin to circle overhead.

She had known, even before she told her mother how much she wanted to do this, that her first day out on her own would be no easy task. But this was beyond her expectations, she never once thought it was going to be _this _hard. Had she known that she would need to cross almost the half of the Pridelands just on her first day, she would probably have taken a longer drink from the dirty pond back home. Any water would be good enough for her right now, so long as it got rid of the burning feeling in the back of her throat. For an adult, crossing the Pridelands in one day would be a relatively simple task in the right conditions, but to a pup as young as she was, it seemed more than impossible.

Finally, she came to the point she had been worrying about since she began walking. There, less than a quarter of a mile to her right was Pride Rock. It had always stood with just as much power as any lion had ever felt in their lifetime and here she was, a six year old hyena pup, trying to sneak by without being seen or scented. She had often heard the older hyenas in her clan talk about Pride Rock.

'Its no ordinary mountain' they would always start out. 'Its a living breathing creature that sees everything that goes on around it. Its just as alive as you, me and the lions that live inside.'

Of course, Shenzi had always thought of these stories as nothing but an old trick meant to keep pups like her from wandering (or sneaking) into the Pridelands. But now that she was here, closer than anyone her age and of her kind had been for the past 6 generations, she couldn't shake those wild stories out of her head.

In order to avoid being spotted by any lions who might be looking over in her direction for whatever reason she was forced to again walk through the tall grass. And just like before she had to go through the strain of constantly poking her head over the top to make sure there was nothing of immediate danger around, though she wasn't quite sure what she planned to do if she _was_ being spied on. She licked her nose only to find that her tongue felt rough and dry. She needed to get to that oasis and _soon._

A deep and proud voice tore her from her thoughts.

"Hold on a minute Taka, I think I hear something"

As soon as she heard this she forgot all about getting to the water and dropped down to the ground as fast as she could, trying to make herself as small as possible in the blades of grass surrounding her. She heard footsteps approaching in her direction.

"I don't hear anything..." a less powerful voice said.

"I'm almost sure I heard something over there..." she heard the footsteps approaching the patch of grass where she hid.

As she heard them come closer, dozens of thoughts flew through Shenzi's mind. Had she been careful to walk as light as possible to make her pawprints seem old and faded? Was she being quiet enough? Did they see her? Could they smell her? Was her body casting a shadow in the sun? Was she up or down wind? Had she been sure to disturb as little of her surroundings as possible? If they found her what would they do? Would they kill her? Eat her? Before she could think of any other ghastly fates that might lie in store for her she heard the first voice speak again.

"Perhaps you're right..." it said. "Maybe it IS nothing..."

"Come Mufasa, father told us to be back before sunset and it doesn't look like there's much sunlight left..."

_Mufasa..._ Shenzi thought to herself. She couldn't explain why but hearing this had an incredible impact on her. It just sounded so...powerful, like the mention of anything that held such a name would send even the bravest and strongest of her clan running for cover. She heard the second voice call out second time.

"Mufasa?"

Shenzi's felt her entire body tingle when she heard that. The feeling almost made her laugh, and if she hadn't been biting down on her tongue she would have.

"Mufasa?" the second voice called again.

The tingling was almost unbearable by this point. She didn't even know why this was happening but whatever the reason, she liked it. She wished she could have laughed but knowing that her life was in serious danger was a good enough excuse to hold it in. She bit down so hard on her tongue she thought she tasted blood.

At last she heard the lions' footsteps trot in opposite direction and slowly fade away. Letting out a long sigh of relief she stayed in her spot for about 10 extra minutes, just in case they decided to come back for whatever reason. When she finally felt that they were a safe distance away she stood up and once again raised herself up on her tiptoes to look around. She could barely make out the shapes of the two lions as they made their way back to Pride Rock. The sun was in the early stages of setting by this point and it wouldn't be long before she found herself all alone in the dark. For an adult, this would be nothing more than a tiny inconvenience, if not a hunting advantage due to the fact that most animals they hunted did not share their ability to see in the dark. But to a pup it was an entirely different story. At her age, Shenzi's eyes had yet to develop their night vision capabilities and with only a crescent moon out tonight, she would be left nearly blind if she didn't get moving soon.

She decided it was time to start running. It didn't take before she began to regret this decision, as she felt her legs and feet under her start to ache from her constant movement during the day. Her mouth was dry from lack of water and her bangs hung down almost directly in contact with her eyes. Normally she would have blown them out with ease, but right now she barely had enough air in her to run and simply couldn't muster up a spare breath. The sky began to turn a shade of light orange as she forced herself to press on. Her throat burned with every breath she took and the oasis seemed to stay at the same long distance it had been twenty steps ago, never seeming to come any closer. The promise of water and rest was enough to keep her running.

Then at last...at long, long last, Shenzi made it within walking distance of the oasis and gradually slowed to a crawl. As soon as she was near the water's edge she finally sat down, panting as her bottom slammed into the dirt. She smiled at the amazing feat she had just accomplished. Turning around to see just how far she had come since the morning, her eyes widened when she saw that the Elephant Graveyard was now but a tiny gray speck across the endless plains in the distance. Had she really come _that _far? All by herself? She smiled even wider at the thought of it. She turned back to face a small rise in the ground next to the water, there was one tree was growing on top of it. She was happily surprised when she saw that the rise had a small hole under it that lead directly into a cave big enough to fit something the size of a warthog (and maybe a tiny roommate) inside.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed.

She then turned her attention to the pool of water in front of her. Beautifully still and with a perfect reflection of the sky on its surface, Shenzi almost felt guilty when she leaned her head down to take a drink, having disturbed something that seemed so peaceful. She stuck her tongue out and lapped up as much of it as she could at once, the cool and refreshing liquid instantly helped to extinguish the fires burning in her throat. She gasped for air when she finally pulled her head up from the longest drink in her life. Water was dripping from her mouth and on to the ground below. Without even thinking about it, Shenzi jumped into the water and poked her head out from under the surface. The pool was just deep enough so that she could feel the ground beneath her while keeping her head up for air. Normally, doing such a thing back at home was not possible simply because the water was either too dirty or too shallow for anyone to do so.

After a few minutes of simply laying there in the water and letting her body cool down, she stepped out. Her fur clung to her body and her bangs lay flat on her face, not to mention she was dripping wet. Shenzi shook herself off and drops of water rained on the ground all around her. By this point the sun was long gone and the moon stood high in the night sky, looking down at the wide expanse of the Serengeti below, leaving just enough light for her to be able to find her way to the mouth of the cave under the rise. The inside of the cave felt warm and comfortable when she stepped in. After taking three more steps she fell to the floor and lay there for a few seconds before shutting her eyes. It wasn't long before she fell into the depths of the longest and deepest sleep in her life.

_Back with Sariel..._

The sun had long since set and Sariel sat on top of her elephant skull home, gazing up at the countless stars above her. Ever since that morning she had not been able to take her mind off her daughter and kept wondering where she was and how she was getting along. She sighed and looked over at the rest of the Elephant Graveyard behind her. Most of the clan was asleep by now, save for those on patrol and those off on the nightly searches for food. Turning back towards the Pridelands, where her daughter now slept she let out a sigh.

"Sleep well Shenzi..." she whispered to herself as she turned around to climb back down the skull and into her home.

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><p><strong>So there you have it everyone. My first second chapter in a story. What did you think? Hate it? Like it? Okay with it? Hope I was able to satisfy you. Next chapter will hopefully be up next week. (And for those of you wondering, YES the place Shenzi is sleeping in IS the same place where Timon and Pumbaa first stay in The Lion Kind 1 12.) Take care everyone!**


	3. The First Day

**If you're reading this it means one of two things: 1.) You're skipping ahead to see what happens later in the story or 2.) You read and liked chapters 1 AND 2!**

**Hopefully its the second one but if you're reading this at all then it means that you clicked on the story in the first place so that means something...I guess...**

**Anyways, like I said before I'm probably going to be one of those people who updates his stories every week, though not necessarily on the same day. This is because I have other things to do, including keeping up with school and whatnot so I can't give you a _guarantee _that I'll update every week but I will certainly try my best to. **

**So if you're done listening to my rambling and want to get on with the story I won't get in your way anymore. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p>As the wildebeest herd continued to eat the bright green grass growing at their feet, they remained completely unaware that they were being watched. Not too far away, Shenzi lay almost flat on the grass, silently spying on the grazing animals.<p>

_They're never gonna know what hit them, _she thought to herself as she began working out her strategy in her head. She finally settled on the idea of running directly into the herd and causing a ruckus. By doing this, she would cause a stampede and therefore be able to easily pick off one of the old sick ones. Not to mention that once everyone back home saw that she had managed to bring home something as big as a wildebeest, they would no doubt place her as leader of the hunting parties. Shenzi grinned to herself at the thought of having so many adults under her command, ready to do whatever she said whenever she said it. After looking through the group of wildebeest closest to her she picked out the biggest one. It made perfect sense to her that the biggest would be the oldest and therefore, the sickest and weakest. She crouched low to the ground, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Finally, she made her move. Charging out at full speed towards the wildebeest ahead, she set her sights on the one she had earlier picked out. As soon as they saw the oncoming predator, the entire herd began to flee in the opposite direction, with the large one struggling to keep up with the others. Shenzi never took her eyes off of him as she continued running at full speed through the plain. When she finally got close enough, she pounced and latched on to his back, her claws digging into the flesh. The beast howled with pain and took a few more steps before falling to the ground. He lay there, completely still. Shenzi jumped off his back and walked around to his head. There was a look of pride, but also shame in his eyes. How could he have allowed himself to be brought down by a lowly hyena? A pup no less? With a single motion Shenzi clamped her jaws on his throat when suddenly the wildebeest turned and began to lick her face. His tongue felt slimy and sticky as it slowly dragged itself along the surface of her skin.

_Why is he doing this?_ Shenzi thought to herself. _And why does his tongue feel so...slimy?_

Shenzi woke up to find out that an enormous snail had worked itself halfway up her snout and was now resting comfortably. Her eyes widened at the sight and after a few seconds of absorbing what was happening, Shenzi let out a high pitched scream that was heard by every animal within a quarter mile radius. Throwing the snail off her, she darted out of the cave and dunked her head into the pool of water outside. She held her head underwater for about 30 seconds before finally pulling herself out. Shenzi gasped for air as she used her front paws to wipe away at the area on her face where the snail had been crawling. She could still feel him on her snout and dunked herself under the surface again, violently thrashing her head back and forth, causing quite a stir for any tiny fish that had taken up residence in the pond.

"Blegh!" she spat as she continued to wipe her face of any remaining slime from the snail.

She couldn't get the sight of him just lying there, right on her snout, out of her head and shuddered at the thought of him crawling into her mouth. Judging from the dark orange sky, it was still early in the morning and by this point most other animals were just waking up or still asleep. Shenzi yawned.

"Well...Thats _one_ way to wake up in the morning..." she said to no one in particular as she she stood back up.

Turning around to look inside the cave, she found that the snail was nowhere to be seen. Blowing a bang out of her eye, she decided that she would worry about him later; right now she had a different matter on her mind...breakfast. Back home, breakfast was a rarity if not a treat, as was food in general and now that she was in the Pridelands, where food was at least 15 times more abundant, the temptation of a decent morning meal was too great for Shenzi to pass up. Turning back around, she walked out of her temporary home in search of a quick meal.

Her opportunity came about five minutes later when an unlucky field mouse happened to cross her path. She waited for him to be just in the right spot and once he was Shenzi slammed her paw down on his tail and brought him up to her face. As soon as the mouse saw who had grabbed him his eyes widened with terror.

"Oh please don't do it! I've got three kids!" he cried out as he dangled in front of her jaws.

"Well _I've_ got an empty stomach" she replied as she sat down.

"I'll do anything! Please!_ Anything!"_

_"_Here's the thing..._you're_ a mouse..._I'm_ a hyena. I'm hungry and you're food."

"Please! My wife is at home waiting for me to bring home food for our starving children. I work hard all day searching high and low for something that we can eat but I almost never find anything. Its a horrible life and I wish I could give my family more but I can't." as he said this he broke down in tears. "But at the end of the day its always worth it to see my five children's smiling faces when I bring them something to-"

"Hold on a minute" cut in Shenzi, waving her free paw in front of him. "How many kids did you say you have?"

"F-five" sputtered the mouse.

"Funny you said you had _three _just a second ago..."

The mouse's eyes became wider than ever before at hearing the mistake that had sealed his fate.

"Oh no, what I meant was..." began the mouse, before Shenzi brought him up to her jaws "Oh no! NO! NOOOOO-" his voice was cut off as Shenzi swallowed him whole.

For a few minutes after she sat there and wondered if the mouse really WAS telling her the truth about his family until a familiar voice tore her from her thoughts.

"Playing with our food again?" it said. "I thought your mother would have taught you better than that..."

Shenzi turned to see another hyena standing less than 6 feet away from her.

"Hello, Malaika..." she said in an icy cold voice. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I'm here for the same reason you are." came the hyena's simple reply.

"And that is?" asked Shenzi, trying see if the they really _did _ have the same goal in mind.

"Don't try to pass yourself off as any stupider than you already are, Shenzi. You and I both know that we're here to bring something back for the clan...and we both know what we're after..." She lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned in Shenzi's direction."The position of leading the hunting parties." she said with a smug grin.

Shenzi only glared at her in reply.

Taking the opportunity, Malaika went on "If you want, Shenzi you can come with us on a hunt every now and then... Just as long as you don't get in the way of the _real_ hunters." she paused to let her words sink in. "And don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to catch something other than that mouse around here. If you try _really _hard, you might even catch something like" she put her front paws up to her mouth and let out a fake gasp "a _meerkat_!"

With her smug smile still plastered on her face, she turned and was about to walk away before Shenzi tackled her to the ground.

"Listen and listen good, sistah" she snarled "I came here with one goal on mah mind and no one is gonna stop me from reachin' it" The accent she had always so desperately tried to hide was starting to show itself "Especially not a stuck up li'l brat like you."

"We'll see about that" said Malaika as she pushed Shenzi off her and got to her feet "Now won't we?" she finished as she turned and walked off.

Shenzi growled as she watched her rival walk off. Before long she turned and walked in the opposite direction.

_So what if Malaika's here? s_he thought to herself _Its not like she'll actually catch anything..._

Their rivalry could be traced back to their early puphood days. A good part of it had to do with the vastly different ways they had been raised. All her life Shenzi had been taught that in order to get what you wanted, you had to work hard to get it; Malaika, on the other hand, had been born into a life where she always got what she wanted exactly when she wanted it. This was mostly due to the fact that both of her parents were high ranking members of the clan and had spoiled her from birth. It was for this reason that Malaika had grown into the selfish, arrogant, lazy, bossy, bratty and annoying bully most others her age knew her as today.

As a young pup, Malaika had little friends outside of her own little group and was disliked even by some of the adults (including Sariel). Most parents didn't even want her around their pups, not that they would want to be with her in the first place. She was infamously known as a bully, always picking fights with smaller pups and constantly causing trouble. The worst part was that almost no one could stop her, mostly due to her strength, which was, for the most part, her parents doing. Because of the obvious risk of losing their family's high ranking status in the future, Malaika's parents had made sure that their daughter would be able to overpower most other pups her own age, a fact she never hesitated to show off. Malaika was known to be a dirty fighter, sometimes placing a well aimed blow to an eye followed by numerous bites and scratches to her blinded challenger and other times going so far as beating her opponents while they were down. This habit of hers that was the reason that most other pups would usually back down from a fight with her, play or not, and those who did step up to the challenge would often walk away with a limp or even a broken bone or two. That is until Shenzi stood up to her. Up until that point, Malaika had only fought pups with little to no experience and had become so accustomed to this routine that when faced with Shenzi, who had been in training since she was only four weeks old, she didn't know what to do and quickly lost. While Shenzi came to be viewed as a hero among the other pups and quickly gained popularity, Malaika never let go of her defeat at the future matriarch's paws and quickly grew to hate her.

Blowing a bang out of her eye, Shenzi continued to walk through the plains, doing her best to remain hidden. The day was still young and she still had more than enough time to find a sizable quarry. Walking in the opposite direction of Pride Rock, she shuffled along through the grass

She stopped when she heard a noise ahead, it sounded like a wildebeest. She began walking in the direction from where the sound had come from. As she got closer she was able to make out the sounds of hundreds of wildebeest not far away. Before long she made it to a point where she found herself faced with an enormous herd about 50 yards ahead. It looked exactly as she had pictured it in her dream, maybe even bigger. But there was something different this time. Up until now she had never thought wildebeest were so...big. She had always pictured a them as a decent sized animal, but these were _huge _compared to her. After a bit she decided to push the thought aside and focus on the task at hand.

Shenzi sat there trying to remember how she had managed to catch one in her dream, and before long the strategy that had worked so well came back to her. If it worked in a dream with no obvious flaws then why wouldn't the same thing happen in real life? Stepping within range of the animals, she crouched low to the ground and examined the group in front of her. They remained oblivious to her presence as she singled out the biggest one among them. About 5 minutes later, she made her move. As she ran towards them as fast as she could, fully expecting them to scatter like rats, something happened (or rather, _didn't _happen). Why weren't they running?

_They probably don't even see me yet..._she thought as she kept running. With each step she took they seemed to get bigger and bigger, and she only got smaller and smaller. Before she could get much further, one of them turned and saw her._ Now they'll start running..._

But they didn't run at all. In fact, the one she had singled out did the exact opposite. He started running _towards _her. With his head down and his horns pointing at her, he suddenly didn't seem so old and weak to her anymore. Shenzi stopped dead in her tracks as she watched him cross the ground between them. For a moment she was frozen in the spot where she had stopped before turning around and sprinting in the direction she had come from.

_What happened? _she mentally asked herself as she heard him getting closer. One minute she was running right at them with her teeth bared and they didn't even flinch. Then a critical mistake she had made dawned upon her.

As a pack hyenas seemed much more fearsome and were a very dangerous threat to any animal that was unlucky enough to catch their eye; but when there was only one, the effect brought on by the sight of being surrounded by a dozen or so was instantly lost. And if it were a pup like her it seemed even less threatening. She had expected the wildebeest to run simply because of the fact that she was a hyena. It was the same idea she had told the mouse earlier: "_I'm hungry and you're food_". But when they saw that the animal who had charged out in an all out attack was just a pup the wildebeest instantly lost all fear of her.

Shenzi turned to look over her shoulder and saw that the wildebeest was quickly gaining on her. She turned back to look back in front of her and saw the same field of high grass she had come through the day before directly ahead. Her mother had once said that wildebeest had poor vision and were easily confused. If this was true then she might have a chance to lose him if she managed to reach the grass before he got close enough to do any damage. To see how much ground there was between them Shenzi looked over her shoulder again and was horrified to see that the wildebeest in pursuit was now a mere three feet behind her.

Turning back ahead she quickly kicked it into high gear and began running as fast as she could, but it was no use. The wildebeest, being much larger and faster, was easily able to cross the space she had made in her sprint. The grass ahead wasn't much farther now, all she had to do was-

Shenzi yelped as she felt herself get hit from behind and flung off the ground, causing her to fly through the air. Shenzi felt the wind get knocked out of her as she hit the ground, and her head slammed hard into the dirt below. She lay completely still, her head was throbbing from the impact. For a moment she thought she saw Malaika up ahead in the grass, giggling to herself. Shenzi gritted her teeth as she watched her adversary laugh at her pain. She reached her paw out in Malaika's direction as she continued laughing but before she could to anything else, she felt a certain dizziness in the back of her head. Suddenly the whole world slowly slipped into darkness as she fell into the depths of unconsciousness...

* * *

><p><strong>There you go everyone, your entry for the week. I decided to go with the name Malaika because of the fact that its Swahili for angel (at least from what I've gathered). It seemed like a nice contradiction with Shenzi, which means "Barbarous". <strong>

**Anyways, what did you think? Like it? Hate it? Hate this same annoying sentence being repeated at the end of each chapter? Well tell me about it! Reviews are always welcome! **

**Admittedly this isn't the best piece I've ever written. I encountered serious writers block when I started on the introduction of Malaika and the description of the pair's rivalry (which I think could have been done much better) and I think it shows. But I managed to pull it all together on Friday so I could get it to you guys on Saturday. **

**Like I said, I'll try to stick to my (semi)promise of having a new chapter up every week as best as I can. So if you want to continue following the story (which I hope you do) check back next week!**

****Thanks so much for reading this far into the story! **See you next time!**

**P.S. Yes, I'm fully aware of the fact that young hyenas are normally referred to as cubs. I decided to keep the term pups around after I caught my mistake in the story "Happy Birthday Shenzi". Besides, it just sounds better to me...**


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